Arrow-mounted game tracking devices that include an electronic transmitting device are known in the hunting industry. During the pursuit of a game animal the archer will launch the arrow along with the attached transmitting device into the target animal. These devices typically require equipping an arrow with an electronic transmitting device, either with a permanently attached transmitting device or with a detachable transmitting device that uses hooks to try and attach the transmitting device to the wounded animal. These devices are intended to operate such that once an arrow is embedded in a game animal, the hunter may use a hand-held receiver to locate the position of the wounded game. However, modern bows used for hunting bear, elk, caribou, deer, turkey, and other game animals are powerful enough to shoot an arrow, and thus the electronic transmitting device, completely through the animal at even long ranges. Existing devices that utilize detachable components to attempt to embed the transmitting device in the game animal using hooks or other mechanisms suffer from numerous deficiencies, including requiring custom made arrows, negatively effecting the flight of the arrow, failing to secure the transmitting device in the game animal upon impact, or allowing the transmitting device to fall out before the hunter is able to track the wounded animal.
The rebound, or deflection, energy of a solid mass in motion coming in contact with a relatively solid wall (e.g., the target game animal) is great, and as a result existing detachable devices with transmitting devices continue in motion by rebounding in a direction relative to its point of origin, similar to the result of throwing a rubber ball against a wall. Modem arrows can launch and impact at speeds of 250 to 450 feet per second, and upon impact that mass in motion contains extreme energy to rebound. Thus, in such cases, the detachable device may rebound back off and/or out of the animal. Or, if the detachable transmitting device does not rebound off the animal and does attach, it may still be pulled out before the hunter is able to locate the animal due to the animal rubbing against obstacles like trees, bushes, ground, and rocks, or the animal instinctively pulling the attached transmitting device out.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved detachable apparatus that includes a transmitting device which is designed to securely attach the transmitting device to a game animal upon impact when the arrow passes through the animal.